Brett's Here!

Today was a long, fun day. Brett got here early this morning. He was up and playing basketball with his friends by 7. Mike and I heard him leave and did not envy him at all. When he came home, Marie was so cute. She squealed such a happy squeal when she saw him. Marie has the cutest little voice. She sounds like Mickey Mouse. Marie was excited to play with our toys. Rachel's mom & dad came and took them to lunch, Marie didn't want to leave. Rachel said, "She's drunk on toys."

Marie
Mina & Brett

Stockton & Mina

Marie

Rachel and I went shopping today. We are getting ready for a pretty cool Easter egg hunt tomorrow. Mike made a yummy dinner. My dad, Max and Matt came over. I signed my dad up on facebook. He is thrilled. When dad was ready to leave, we couldn't find Max. I had put him to bed in the boys room. We finally found him under the bed sleeping in 'Bubs' position.'

Dad & Mina

Max

Right now we are playing Pirates . . . I better start paying attention.

Drivers Licence

I finally got around to getting my Utah drivers licence today! The lines were long, but at least it is now done. I had to take the written test, at least it was open book. It still was a pain though. There were a ton of teenagers taking the test, but they didn't get to use a book. Most of them didn't pass. There were 25 questions. I missed three. One was "Motorcycle insurance is CA-155 True or False"....something like that. Seriously, how does that make sure I'm a competent driver?

I had a really good day today. Laura Leatherwood came over! I mean Laura White came over. I wish I would have gotten a picture because Laura looked so good, and I actually had make-up on, due to the fact I was getting my drivers licence picture taken. Anyway, she brought her three little kids over. Sage is getting so big. Her birthday is tomorrow. She will be 2. She isn't walking or talking yet, but she makes these cute squealing noises. When she crawls and wants to sit up, she just scoots backward and practically does the splits. It's crazy! (Sage was born with Down Syndrome which is why her developmental milestones are a bit different.) It was great to hang out with Laura again. I can't wait for her to come back when the pool is open!

Speaking of the pool, we started working on it today. It's going to take a lot of work before it is ready to use, but it is way too cold to be swimming anyway. It was fun looking at the pool from the living room with the pool cover off. So pretty.

Last, but not least, BRETT & RACHEL ARE COMING TODAY! Rachel, Marie & Mina should be here in about 15 minutes. Brett probably about a half an hour later. I can't wait! Well, obviously I can, but I am so anxious to see them! I bet Brett is anxious to see his girls again. They have been apart for too long. Tomorrow is going to be fun!

Divine Nature #2

Last weekend while I was with my grandma I worked a little on my personal progress booklet. Since I no longer have a mother I can easily talk to, I talked to my grandma. I was suppose to ask my mother what she thinks are important attributes for being a mother. Grandma answered, "Put your children first, discipline them, love them no matter what - no matter their failings & faults, try to teach them how to behave, try to make sure they know you love them, and never compare one child against another." That's quite a good list. It's pretty easy to see why my mom was so wonderful, she had a pretty amazing mother herself!

Carl Bloch

Today I took my kids to the Carl Bloch exhibit at BYU. Bubs & Ange and their family came as well. Let's just say that my experience was not the same as the lady in conference. You know, who watched an extremely reverent four year old. My four year old kept saying, "You're wrong Mom, it's not beautiful." Oh boy. Maysen enjoyed it the most and commented on how the paintings looked like photographs. My favorite was the life cycle of Christ that is in some castle. That was quite amazing.

My kids sure did like the end of the exhibit. Just out the door was something that looked like black carpet. They were fascinated by it. I came over closer and realized they were alphabet noodles painted black. Weird. Also, they enjoyed the giant pile of books in the center of the room. I can't remember how much it weighed, but about as much as 30 cars.

Anyway, we survived and I'm glad we were able to go. I probably should have left Preston home, but you never know if it would be something he would love. As soon as we got home, Stockton and I got ready to go to his Wii party. This was held at RC Willey and was a K12 event. They had pizza and played Wii. Stockton enjoyed himself and also met his teacher in person for the first time. She was really nice and very interested and proud of Stockton. We have talked a few times on the phone, it was great to finally meet her. She lives in Washington County, so it was really nice of her to come all the way up. She even called Stockton a few weeks ago to personally to invite him.

Mrs. Seymour & Stockton

Integrity #4

Integrity - 1. The quality of state of being complete; unbroken condition; wholeness; entirety. 2. The quality or state of being unimpaired; perfect condition; soundness. 3. The quality or state of being of sound moral principle; uprightness, honesty & sincerity.

Over the weekend I talked to my grandma about integrity. It had the added bonus as passing off a value experience for my personal progress I have been working on. Grandma said, "Integrity means honesty in your dealings. Always be honest." Simple as that. I like it.

I try to be honest in all my dealings. I can't remember the last time I told a lie. I just can't stand it. There have been many times in my life it would be so much easier to lie, but I just can't do it. When I was in 9th grade my mom wrote me a letter. She told me how proud she was of my honesty. I have been determined that she will still feel that way about me when I see her again.

Quick note on today. CRTs are done! Yay! Stockton is still taking his math scantron and has to finish at home. He hasn't even started his Language Arts one...so we will be doing that this week. After the CRTs, we met Mike at Leatherby's. When I saw how expensive it was I told the kids that we weren't going to have lunch, just order the icecream. They loved it and it was a good way to celebrate the end of testing, although I have no idea why I didn't think of going to Iceberg.

Factorials

What a LONG day! Maysen and Stockton had their CRT tests. They started at 9 and ended at 4. Jorja, Preston and I went and met them for lunch. They were in pretty good spirits and said the tests had been easy so far. When I went to pick them up at 4 it was a different story. Stockton looked beat! He was quite upset and extremely exhausted. He said, "The math test would never end." I finally realized that along with the CRTs, they were given the Scantron tests for math and reading. These tests go until you get too many wrong and then they stop. Stockton kept going. He has to finish tomorrow. One question was, "If you were making an ID card that had ten numbers and each one could only be used once, how many possible combinations are there?" Stockton figured out that he basically had to go 10 x 9 x 8 x 7 x 6 x 5 x 4 x 3 x 2 x 1. Mike said, "You figured out factorials?" Then he told him that they are usually written with an exclamation mark. Stockton said, "That's why there were random exclamation marks all over the place."

On the way home, we grabbed a cheese pizza at Little Caesars (Stockton & Maysen's favorite). We had Stockton eat in the car and went straight to diving. He was so tired! His coach finally got out the mat he likes to slide on and just let him play.

I am so proud of him and how hard he has worked. He is going to sleep well tonight! Maysen, I'm super proud of you too! (Maysen's tests went on forever as well, especially Language Arts....)

Let Us All PRESTON

That is what I learned at church. It is now my new favorite song for Preston. I'm going to teach it to him. I went to church with Grandma & Grandpa. Tammi was one of the speakers. She did a good job and almost didn't cry . . . wait, kidding, she didn't make it past one sentence. It was a good talk Tammi and I enjoyed it very much.

I packed up and headed out after sacrament meeting. The drive wasn't bad on the way back. I didn't get sleepy again, so that worked out well. This weekend was sure enjoyable for me. Hope I didn't wear out Grandma & Grandpa too much.

I'm trying to take our picture . . .

Stephanie & Grandma

This one didn't turn out too well, Grandpa is tall!

Stephanie & Grandpa

Steve & Shannon and their kids came over tonight. They played a crazy tag game out back while Shannon and I watched. It was a quick visit because Erica, Maysen & Stockton all have their CRT's tomorrow. That's about it from here . . . now I'm ready for bed!

Savannah's Married!

What a day! This morning I was able to watch Savannah & Austin be sealed in the Idaho Falls Temple. I sat next to Glade! I don't know why I didn't expect him to be there, but I didn't . . . maybe it's because he's been in MONGOLIA for the past year & a half! It was so funny, when he was walking by Grandma he stopped to say hello and said, "It's Glade. Glade Powell" . . . like Grandma wouldn't know who he was. We had quite a good laugh about that afterwards.

After the wedding, I hung out with my grandparents talking and doing crossword puzzles. Glade & Heather came over and we were able to visit with them for awhile. I actually got to talk to Heather with no crazy kids running around - that's quite unusual. (Heather, I'm saying my kids are crazy . . . not yours . . .)

Around six o'clock we headed out to Savannah's reception. Let me tell you, Debie sure knows how to put on a show! The place was beautiful! I took a few pictures, but they don't do the decorations any justice.

Austin & Savannah

Savannah had a vintage theme. They had my Grandpa's WWII uniform displayed, pictures of Grandma & Grandpa & Sue. It was quite awesome.

The food was incredible! I love treats & there were a ton of the most delicious things. Missy's sister made the most amazing cupcakes. They were beautiful & tasted as good as they looked.

Lemon-Blueberry Cupcakes

Savannah looked gorgeous. She got her wedding dress at DI for $20. Of course Debie added some magic to it. Savannah & Austin had to be exhausted. They had a line out the door the entire night.

After the wedding, I stayed and "helped" clean up . . . at least I tried. Grandma & Grandpa were there the entire time. It was a pretty long day for Grandma, but I think she enjoyed it. Grandma & I stayed up talking until almost midnight. I loved my time with her so much. What a wonderful, busy weekend!

Science is Done!

Stockton and I finished the science curriculum this morning. I enjoyed the end of science (chemistry, electricity, laws of motion, etc.) much more than the beginning (weather, geology, etc.). I am glad we were able to finish. Stockton & Maysen take their CRTs on Monday . . . hope they do well.

This afternoon I drove up to Idaho. I didn't get sleepy once and was quite proud of myself. I'm staying at Grandma & Grandpa's house. Tonight there was a wedding dinner for Savannah & Austin. It was fun to see so many people. Brooke was even there! I am so thankful that I don't have to miss events like these anymore! Can't wait for tomorrow!

An Event in Stockton's Life

Lot's of things have happened in my life, but there is one that shines. Recently, we moved from Georgia to Utah. We lived there for 9 years, & the rest of our family lived in Utah. It took months to pack everything, clean the house, load it up, drive to Utah, unload, & find a new house. We missed our old house, but we're growing fond of this one. We love living in Utah!

. . .

But, that was a long time ago, because now we live in a time of pollution & global warming. We had to evacuate Earth, & now we're all getting fat on the Axiom up in Outer Space.

Jorja Loves Talon

Watching Stockton dive today was awesome. He was so happy. He was doing pretty great back flips and just beamed. I love it when he is filled with such joy.

As predicted, Jorja was extremely pleased to see Talon here. I whispered in her ear that we brought him early this morning. She bolted up and jumped out of bed. I wanted to warn her so she didn't bring her frogs upstairs. I'm guessing frogs and Talon wouldn't mix well. I'm pretty sure hamsters and Talon wouldn't be a good idea either.

The first day with Talon was okay. It is so sad to watch him hop around. Right now it is cold and stormy, so I'm glad he is in here with us.

Math Class

I love learning with Stockton. Sometimes I'm amazed of the things I don't know. I probably learned them way back when, but still . . . how could I forget? Today we were learning 'tests for divisibility'. There are ones that are obvious, like an even number is always divisible by 2, a number ending in 5 or 0 is always divisible by 5, and a number ending in a 0 is always divisible by 10. I vaguely remember learning some of the others . . . . Feel free to skip the math lesson coming up, but I find this fascinating.

4 - If a (whole . . . all of these are for whole numbers . . . probably) number is divisible by 4, just check the last two numbers . . . 7,736 is divisible by 4 because 36 is divisible by 4. 86,222 is not because 22 is not divisible by 4.

3 & 9 - If the sum of the digits is a multiple of 3, then it is divisible by 3. If the sum is a multiple of 9, it is divisible by 9. 393 is a multiple of 3 but not 9 because 3+9+3=15.

6 - If a number is divisible by 2 & 3, then it is divisible by 6. 31,027,302 is divisible by 6 because it is even, so 2 is a factor, and 3+1+0+2+7+3+0+2=18 making 3 a factor. Both 2 & 3 are a factor so 6 is.

11 - 11 was the craziest one and I'm sure I never learned this. I will quote: "A number has 11 as a factor if and only if the sum of its first, third, fifth, . . . digits equals the sum of its second, fourth, sixth, . . . digits, or if these two sums differ by a multiple of 11." Wow. So, 17,314 has a factor 11 because 1+3+4=8 & 7+1=8. Also, 806,124 has 11 as a factor because 8+6+2=16 & 0+1+4=5. 16-5=11. Crazy.

Enough about that, now what else happened today? After we got the kids to bed, Mike and I went to Bubs & Ange's house to drop off extra boxes. Lincoln is obsessed with Minute to Win It. He was showing me different games that I think he made up, but I'm not sure. Ella & Abbs are so stinking cute. Abbs doesn't stop smiling and Lincoln & Ella had a great time playing in a giant box that Mike put over Lincoln's head.

After we dropped off the boxes and stopped by Hires for a root beer, we headed up to Mike's house. Several trees had fallen over during one of the storms. Mike's dad and his brother had chopped them up for firewood for us. We went and picked them up. It filled the entire 'kidnapping van' that Mike had. (Mike has been driving a van he calls the kidnapping van because it is a carpet cleaning van that has no windows in the back, and doors out the side . . . well, it's hard to explain but it is funny.) Anyway, we have a ton of firewood that we are very grateful for. I would have taken a picture, but I was way too tired. Maybe tomorrow.

While we were up there we checked on Talon. Actually Mike went up there with Jorja earlier today to check on the cat. He told me that Talon was limping. When I saw him I was so sad. It was pathetic to see this cat hopping around. Mike and I gathered up Talon's things (food, litter box etc.) and took Talon home with us. I hope I don't regret this, but I kind of know how Talon feels. Discarded. I have felt that before and it is horrible. So, we brought Talon here with us at least until his leg heals. We will then try to figure out what we should do. I'm predicting a very happy Porge in the morning.

She's Done

Maysen informed me today that she is done with the snow. It's been here too long, she would like it to leave. "It came in October and is still here in April." I told her it was normal to be here in October. She said, "Maybe for you." True. Sometimes I forget she is a Georgia girl. Jorja mentioned to Mike that it snows in three of the four seasons. I never quite looked at it that way. We will all be happy when spring is here in more than just name only.

Sides

Preston chose to sit by Mike during sacrament meeting today. As a result, my meeting was very enjoyable . . . Mike's, not so much.

Sin Offering

Stockton's funny. Mike said that at scout camp, as they were eating breakfast, Stockton was standing by the fire tossing in paper plates saying, "The Lord said unto Moses 'Thou shalt offer thy sacrifices before the tabernacle of the congregation. It is a sin offering - a sweet savor unto the Lord.'" He was cracking himself up. I wish I could have been there.....except it was snowing, hard....so I'm glad I stayed in a toasty warm house.

Tonight Stockton was doing front flips off the bouncy ball onto the beanbag. Jorja wanted to try too. Stockton said, "Okay, as soon as you sign the medical waver." I laughed so hard!

Right now I am reading 11 Birthdays to Stockton. He thinks it is pretty funny. Maysen and Jorja listened in tonight. They have both read the book. It was really fun to have them all cuddled around me while we read. I have a pretty great life.

Nourishment

Mike and Stockton are camping. It has been snowing all day. I am so glad I am not them. They are camping with the 11 year old scouts at Wheeler Farm. I hope Mike remembered to take his allergy pills. Mike called before bed and said that besides dinner, steak and potatoes, Stockton is having a great time.

I took Jorja to Target to pick out her Friday prize. She wanted a froggy backpack, but settled for a froggy lunch box. She got 100% on her Chinese spelling test, and for the first time she was able to read the Chinese sentences. She worked so hard this week! It is getting a little easier for her though. It is nice when she recognizes symbols, she gets pretty excited about that.

Jorja and I were trying to find somewhere to pick up food. We couldn't decide on anything, so I picked Carl's Jr. - against Jorja's wishes. That was my choice because it was right next to the pet shop where we stopped for crickets. I got french toast sticks and french fries for the kids, a hamburger and onion rings for me. As Maysen was saying the prayer she said, "Please bless the food that it will give us nourishment....well it probably won't." Haha. She makes me laugh. I know, horrible dinner! Preston did surprise me and LOVED the onion rings! Yea! Now I will have someone to share them with!

Letter of Complaint

Stockton needed to write a letter of complaint for school. I told him I didn't mind if he made up the company, address and complaint. His eyes lit up. He loves making things up. This is his final result:

Cookie Co.

0.0 Pit of Spiky Death

Center of the Chocolate Milky Way, Zxqwb .9999

Dear Cookie Co. Person,

I read that your cookies are chocolate chip, but it turned out as burnt lemon! I would appreciate it if you edited your cookbook's recipe.

Thank you for your time. (And no, I'm not a bad cook. It's your fault.)

Sincerely,

Stockton Smith

Okay, not what I had in mind. I'm not sure he paid much attention to the "Be courteous, don't insult" part of the lesson. This kid does crack me up.

On an unrelated note, I had no idea that the expression off of is never correct. I say things like, "Get off of the couch!" all the time. I guess I am just that dumb. I'm sure Mike is rolling his eyes as he reads this thinking, "How could you not know off of is wrong, it's obvious." I also mix up the correct use of good and well. Stockton enjoys correcting me on that one. I like to call him Chad.

Breakfast Cupcakes

I got up early and made chocolate cupcakes with chocolate frosting. Now that is a healthy way to start the day! It actually is Grandma Honey's birthday. She would have been 72 today. The only time we had to celebrate was this morning. Too bad, we were originally planning to have a picnic at her grave. Kentucky Fried Chicken & cupcakes....would have been fun.

Mike, Jorja, Maysen, Preston, Stockton

We, and by we I mean Mike, got our storage unit emptied! Hooray! Keys are turned in and we are done with that. We are NEVER moving again!

Cheeks

Preston came out of his bath wearing nothing but his frog towel. In the sweetest voice he said, "Mom, do you know these are called cheeks?" Haha! I laughed and laughed and sent him to the garage to ask Mike his question. He came back and said, "Dad knows."

Stockton rode his bike to scouts today. That is another thing he would never be able to do in Georgia. We are loving it here!

No Diving

Stockton and I drove all the way up to the University of Utah. We were the first ones there. I was starting to get worried, but then Aiden came. We waited, and waited. Finally Aiden's mom asked a life guard who went and checked. They cancelled diving today because they were planning on doing maintenance on the pool. I'm guessing the reason we weren't contacted is diving is a month-to-month thing. I am a procrastinator, so I signed up today. Aiden's mom signed up on Saturday. Linea didn't show up, her mom probably signed her up earlier and got the message. I need to stop procrastinating. I'll work on that next week.

April Snow

Last night there was no snow on our lawn....today it looks like this:

CRAZY! It snowed ALL day long. I expect that in December, but it is April! It is beautiful though. Driving on our street with all the snow reminds me of going to Grandma Parry's when we were little. Such happy memories! Seriously not one bad memory at Grandma's. Tonight we had dinner at my dad's. He made a Thanksgiving dinner . . . with scones. Yummy, but I ate too much. Dad did say that Brett might come in April! I hope that is true! Although it looks like it will be the week Mike is in Georgia. Regardless, I hope it's true! I can't wait to see you!

Bingo

The kids watched both sessions of General Conference today. Preston paid really good attention to the first hour. He loved playing bingo and was really good at finding the words. We had goldfish (yuck), jellybeans, marshmallows and taffy. The kids favorite speaker was actually the guy who said the opening prayer in the 2nd session. They all got a bingo during his prayer. "That guy's awesome!" I love it!

Bigger or Better

Mike loves his grill. I love his grill. His food is delicious. I never knew I liked grilled onions so much, but today I couldn't get enough of them. Good thing the kids let me share.

Tonight some high school kids came to our door with a suitcase. They were doing a scavenger hunt called 'bigger or better'. They asked us if we would be willing to donate something bigger or better than the suitcase they had. Maysen had the great idea to donate the fountain out back. Oh boy was that funny! It took about ten of them to carry it down the street. I wish I had a picture of it, but I was too busy consoling Jorja who didn't want to get rid of the fountain. I think that team is going to win.

Picnic

The weather is great. We had a picnic out back. Pizza. No fire ants. Perfect.

Crazy Pictures

Brett sent some pictures from Japan. These pictures were taken about 20 miles down the coast from where Brett is. Crazy. Mike said it looks like they put the entire city in a blender. I am so thankful that Brett and his family were okay. Like Rachel said....just didn't have access to facebook and couldn't make hotpockets. That is the way to go through a tragedy! We are so very blessed.

So Close!

I'm so close to finishing the Parry Post I can almost taste it. I can't wait! Sorry it has taken me so long.

Stockton's New Toy!

Stockton is a saver. He has saved all his money for over year, maybe two. He spent it all last week and his new toy arrived today. He bought a 3DS. It is blue and he is so happy. It was waiting for us on our porch when we returned from diving. Stockton had a GREAT day at diving. He did a few awesome back flips and was so happy. Mike even got to come today. After diving we have made it a tradition to stop and get chips and Slurpees. We are living the dream!

The Shield of Not Caring

The other day Mike made fajitas for dinner. The kids weren't too happy about this. Mike said, in a Monty-Python voice, "I will raise the shield of not caring!" Oh man, it was so funny! The kids just rolled their eyes. We raised the shield again today when we had barbecue chicken. We plan to use the shield often, it's our new favorite toy.

Mike Would Be Proud

Stockton loves Battlebots. He loves playing a computer game called Robot Arena. Preston is hooked as well. In Robot Arena you build combat robots (battlebots) and compete against other players. Anyway, Stockton was excited to tell Mike that he figured out how to make it let you use the cheat components (hover-pad, cannons, etc.) in multi-player games. Mike asked him how he did it. Stockton answered, "I just edited the ra.cfg file and changed "allow non-standard components in multiplayer" from a 0 to a 1. Mike was quite impressed. I have no idea what he is talking about.

That brings me to frogs. Jorja loves them. I don't think there have been a pair of frogs played with more in the history of the world than these frogs. She takes them everywhere. She took them to Steve & Shannon's house tonight. We celebrated Spencer home from college (Cal-State), and Weston's birthday. All of Mike's siblings were there. It was really fun. I love being in Utah! And now, enjoy some frog pictures.

Stockton

Stockton & Jorja Freaky Porge Jorja, Cricket & Hopper

Yes, We Moved a Piano

We have our piano back! Mike and I moved it ourselves. With a little work and ingenuity, we were able to pull it off without having to ask for help. Sorry Dad. We decided to move the piano today after our home teacher left. Probably would have been a good idea to think of that before he left, but oh well. We realized that it finally stopped SNOWING, so we went for it. 2nd time was the charm. It was a lot harder to get out of the van than I realized. So glad that is done!

Mike is off call now. I am glad he only has to do that every 10 weeks. It's not bad, and kind of fun . . . but I am sure glad when the week is over. Mike kept getting called all last night. Usually I can sleep through anything, but I just couldn't last night. I will sleep well tonight! After Mike got off call, we went to Hires. YUMMY! We let the kids stay up pretty late tonight. We were watching Amazing Race. The kids love it. I love that there is a show I can watch with them, and now I'm off to bed. After I eat an orange.